Hi Pat,
Teaching dogs how to behave appropriately when on a walk is one of the most common behaviours we get asked about. All it takes is a little practice and consistency and things will start to improve. In the short term it may be that you need to postpone your normal walk and shift your focus to being really clear with your dog about how you expect her to behave. Ensuring that you work her through the stages leading up to the walk, making sure she is calm at each stage, is something you may need to dedicate a few extra practice sessions to during your day. The great thing is that you don’t even need to leave your home to practice, just do some whenever you have a little spare time at home. When she is progressing well you can then extend your sessions to help reinforce the lesson away from your home. Her behaviour may regress a little but as long as you are consistent then she will start to relax again. Bets…Doggy Dan

Hi Cindy,
This is actually a really common behaviour and with dogs who tend to get a bit excited when visitors come over it can be really effective to place your dog on-leash and ask your visitors to delay giving him a pat or saying ‘hi’ to him until he has calmed down. Having your dog on-leash makes it easier to prevent him from jumping up on your guests and it also means he is likely to calm down a whole lot quicker. It will also help if you limit your interaction with him at this point, so avoid trying to get him to ‘sit’ or speaking to him at all really….just let your calm actions do the work here. Once he has relaxed in their presence you can let him off-leash and if he starts to get excited again then repeat the above. Hope that helps, Doggy Dan